Before the Holiday Begins: The Power of First Impressions in Tourism

29/06/2026

Back in 2003, the internet already existed, but most travellers still arrived at their destination with very little information. Some even showed up without a hotel reservation. That was when I started working at the tourist information office in Salzburg's main railway station—the first stop for many visitors arriving in the city.

One of the first things my manager told me was that we were the city's first impression. Before visitors saw the sights, tasted the food, or checked into their hotel, they met us. The information we shared could shape their experience and help them discover the very best of what the city had to offer.

Today, the same principle applies—only the first impression often happens online. Your hotel website, tourist brochure, restaurant menu, or booking platform may be the very first encounter a visitor has with your business.

And first impressions are hard to undo. A mistranslation, an awkward phrase, or an unfortunate wording choice can leave visitors scratching their heads—or provide them with a funny story to tell long after the holiday is over.

While some translation errors may seem harmless, they can affect credibility, customer trust, and ultimately a visitor's decision to book, dine, or explore. Here are a few examples.

I know we eat strange things in Spain, but… cooked lions? This is only a typical stew from León (the city, not the animal).

Padrón is a town in Galicia, Spain, and has nothing to do with electoral registers or voting rolls. And temporada simply means “seasonal” — not punctuation marks. In other words, we’re talking about peppers, not politics, and definitely not grammar.

In 2018, Santander made headlines when its seven-language tourism portal exposed the pitfalls of unchecked machine translation, turning the Centro Botín into the “Loot Center” and the historic quarter into the “historic helmet”.

In 2023, Italy’s national tourism campaign Open to Meraviglia became an international talking point for all the wrong reasons. In its German version, the website automatically translated place names that should never have been translated. As a result, Prato became Rasen (“lawn”), Scalea turned into Treppe (“stairs”), Brindisi became Toast, and Camerino was rendered as Garderobe (“cloakroom”). The screenshots quickly went viral, turning the campaign into a textbook example of why tourism content should never be published without proper linguistic review.

All of these examples show the same underlying issue: when tourism communication loses its cultural and linguistic accuracy, the first impression suffers.

That is exactly where my own professional experience becomes relevant. I bring hands-on experience in the tourism industry, both in Austria and Spain. I have worked as a receptionist and reservations manager in different hotels, as well as in the Tourismus Salzburg information office and in travel agencies.

When I first arrived in Salzburg, I also took on less glamorous roles, such as delivering audio guides to visitors in two museums (Festung Hohensalzburg and Residenz Salzburg). I was also the person reminding guests to turn off their camera flash—or kindly asking them not to sit on the antique chairs, while also sharing information about the museum and the city itself.

I don’t just translate tourism; I’ve lived it. My suitcase is full of hands-on experience across every stage of the visitor journey, allowing me to use precise terminology and craft messages that truly capture customers’ attention.

Take advantage of my hard-earned background